Method and apparatus for tensioning textile strands



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 T- J'. RHODES llETl-IOD AND APPARATUS FOR TENSIONING TEXTILE 'STRANDS Ail 1' 0RNEY Filed Sept. 3, 1948 i N W "Z mm V M m m w Z l I I l l I I I l l l I I. II a oem ooooo lllllllllllll III III I a .0 \XQEW "w W Z///// Z a WA 7 4 4 0 5s m S w I m G N I N 0 N m R 0 F S m P P A D 0 m m T. J. RHODES April 11, 1950 3 Sheets$heet 2 U M v Ema L. m M M 4 z F m m z w w 0 l1 7 K4 QT w (I M a A 1 a, w m 1 xi 0 Z W 0 W M l 100 nu v Z Filed Sept. 3, 1948 April 1950 11.1. RHODES 2,504,047

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR msxoumc TEXTILE smmas Filed Sept. 3, 194a :s Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 11, 1950 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TENSIONING TEXTILE STRANDS Thomas J. Rhodes, Clifton, N. J., assignor to United States Rubber Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application September 3, 1948, Serial No. 47,863

8 Claims.

1 This invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for tensioning textile strand material, and more particularly to the tensioning of strand material in a package by the impact and hydraulic pressure of a liquid medium.

It is known to be desirable to tension or stretch strand material such as filaments, yarns, cords and the like, hereinafter referred to as strands.

particularly in the presence of a liquid treating medium, whereby the strength of the strand material is improved, or other desirable eifects are obtained. V

For this purpose it has heretofore been the practice to apply the desired tension continuously to a running strand. e. g., by unwinding a yarn or the like from a spool and passing the yarn into a treating bath, and thereafter passing the yarn over a suitable arrangement of capstans or the like to apply the desired tension, and finally winding up the tensioned and treated yarn on another spool.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a more rapid method of tensioning strand material by treating the strand package so that the strand does not need to be unwound and rewound in the course of the tensioning operation.

A further object of this invention is to provide a method of, and apparatus for, treating strands, e. g., yarn and thelike, with a liquid medium while tensioning the strands without unwinding and rewinding the strands.

According to this invention, the strand material is subjected to tension while in the.

wound state by subjecting a wound package to high impact hydraulic pressure in a radial direction outwardly from the center of the package, whereby the diameter of the package is increased, with consequent stretching and tensioning of the strand material.

The tensioning machine of this invention comprises essentially ahydraulic ram in communication with the central core of a package of strand material to be tensioned, and which package is confined between a pair of flanges. The ram is adapted to be urged into a body of a confined liquid in communication with the .interior of the package with a high impact force, whereby the liquid is suddenly displaced radially outwardly within the package of strand material, causing the package to increase its diameter and thus stretching the strand material.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the ends of the package and the inner surfaces provided for urging the flanges together as the diameter of the package increases, thus maintaining the package in the stretched state. The

flanges serve to close the ends of the package so that liquid can be confined within the package and then subjected to successive hydraulic impact blows, each one of which causes the package to be stretched further.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevation with parts in section, of a hydraulic tensioning apparatus, containing a package of yarn ready to be tensioned in accordance with the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the apparatus containing a package of yarn in the tensioned state,

- Fig. 3 is a similar view of the lower part of the apparatus with the hydraulic piston removed and a pull down screw inserted to maintain the" yarn package under tension,

Fig. 4 is a view of a package of tensioned yarn removed from the machine and maintained under tension for drying,

Fig. 5 is 'a sectional view of a 26 package of yarn on the winding spool before it is placed in the hydraulic tensioning machine,

Figs. 6 and 'l are diagrammatic views in section of a typical yarn package before and after 80 the hydraulic treatment, and show how the dimensions of the package are altered by the treatment.

The hydraulic tensioning press shown in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises upright frame members l0, secured to a base II. A main hydraulic cylinder l2 carries a closely fitting ram or piston It. The lower end of the cylinder has a flange II and suitable fastening means, such as quick acting bolts ii, for fastening the cylinder to a conicalhollow spool l1 and the package of yarn it that it is desired to tension. A lower conical faced flange I! resting on the base Ii also engages the spool and the yarn package. The lower flange has a passage 20 through which the liquid medium, by which high impact hydraulic pressure is to be applied to the yarn to tension same, may be admitted to the interior of the spool and package, and also to the chamber 2|. The fluid may be admitted under moderate pressure through the pipe 22 and the check valve 28 by a suitable pump (not shown). (not shown) may be provided for heating the liquid. The chains 24 restrain the piston II of the flanges are cone shaped, and means are from being moved up out of the cylinder if by faced flange I 8 which engages the perforated If desired, means the pressure of the treating liquid in the chamber 2|.

As shown in Fig. 2, a weight 25 in sliding engagement with the frame members III at 26, is adapted to be dropped from a suitable height onto the top of the piston l3, thus delivering the desired impact force to the treating liquid in the chamber 2| and in the interior of the spool ll.

Suitable means are provided for urging the main cylinder l2, and consequently the flanges l4 and I6, downwardly thus compressing the package of yarn axially while applying outward radial pressure within the package to maintain the tension applied by the high impact hydraulic pressure. Such means is conveniently an auxiliary hydraulic cylinder 30, rigidly secured to the frame members III by the cross-bars 3|. A piston flange 32 is rigidly secured to the main cylinder I2 which may be moved up or down as desired by applying suitable hydraulic pressure through pipe 33 above the flange 32 or through pipe 34 below this flange. Leakage about the main cylinder I2 is prevented by the packing rings 35.

Considering now the method of tensioning yarn by high impact hydraulic force, the yarn to be tensioned is flrst wound on the perforated sleeve or spool H. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the package l8 has conical faces 40 which make a more acute angle, such as 29 with the axis of the spool than the conical faces 4| and 42 of the upper and lower flanges, which make an angle of about 57 with the axis of the spool. With the package in position as shown in the drawing and with the bolts l5 fastened, the main cylinder I2 is urged downwardly against the flange l6 by admitting hydraulic liquid under pressure through the pipe 33 into the auxiliary hydraulic cylinder 30. The liquid through which the hydraulic impact force is to be applied, and with which it may be desired to treat the yarn, e. g., a wetting agent or various chemical liquids, etc., is admitted through the passage at a moderate pressure, such as 400 pounds per square inch, into the hollow interior of the spool and the chamber 2i. The piston I3 is prevented from being moved up out of the cylinder I! under the influence of the hydraulic pressure by the chains 24. This hydraulic pressure is sufllcient to cause the treating liquid to flow through the perforations in the spool and to permeate the yarn package uniformly, but is not suflicient to tension the yarn appreciably, since great pressure, which can be obtained in practice only by impact force, is necessary to expand the package radially and thus stretch the yarn. A suitable pan or apron (not shown) may be provided around the base of the machine, if desired, to recover the liquid which seeps through the yarn package in the course of the treatment.

The liquid-permeated yarn package is now ready to be stretched or tensioned by impact force. The weight is raised to a suitable height by any conventional means and allowed to drop onto the top of the piston I3, thus delivering an impact blow to the treating liquid in the chamber 2| and in the interior of the perforated spool. The liquid is thus displaced outwardly through the perforations in the spool suddenly and with great force, causing the diameter of the package to be increased, and thus stretching the yarn. At the same time, the cylinder I2 is forced downwardly by hydraulic pressure on the piston flange 32 in the auxiliary cylinder 30. This forces the flange [6 to move downwardly against the package. The cone shaped faces 4| and 42 of the upper and lower flanges l4 and I! are thus forced against the conical ends of the package, thus upper flange, the intensity of the blows ma be increased by dropping the weight from greater and greater heights or by dropping greater weights.

In a typical treatment, 20 blows were delivered with weights varying from lbs. initially to 320 lbs. finally, dropped from a height of 7 ft. above the top of the piston. This represented a total of 30,000 ft.-lbs. of energy. Since the theoretical energy required to stretch this particular package to this degree was 9,600 ft.-lbs., the mechanical efliciency of the operation was 32%. Figures 6 and 7 show how the dimensions of the package of yarn changed during this typical treatment. The outside diameter of the package increased from an initial value of 5.3" to a value of 5.5" after the treatment, while the inside diameter of the package increased from 3" to 3.11". The package was considerably compressed axially from an initial outer thickness of 5.35" to a final outer thickness of 1.78". At the same time, the angle between the end faces of the package and the axis of the package increased from an initial value of 29 to a flnal value of 5'7", as the conical flanges pressed against the package as shown in Fig. 2. The package was compressed as shown in Fig. 7 to substantially uniform density throughout because the angle selected for the end faces of the wound package as shown in Fig. 6 was somewhat less than the angle of the faces of the flanges on the impact tensioning machine.

In the case of certain tensioning treatments of textile materials with chemical agents it may be advantageous to dry the yarn package while it is maintained under tension. This may be done by disconnecting the chains 24 and removing the hydraulic r-am l 3, after which a pull down screw 45 may be inserted, as shown in Fig. 3, through the hole 46 in the upper extension of the flange IS. The lower end of the screw engages the thread 41 in the lower flange IS. The screw may be tightened by inserting a long handled screw driver through the bore of the cylinder l2.

After the screw is tightened, the quick acting screws I5 may be disconnected, and the flange l4 and cylinder I2 may be raised by releasing the hydraulic pressure in the cylinder through the pipe 33 and applying hydraulic pressure at 34, thus raising the auxiliary piston 22. pling 48 is detached, and then the pack-age of yarn contained between the flanges l6 and I! may be removed as shown in Figure 4 and maintained under tension as long as desired, while the yarn is being dried or aged, or otherwise further treated.

It will be evident to those skilled in the art that the particular embodiment of the invention which has been described may be modified in various particulars without departing from the spirit of the invention. Thus, in some cases it may not be necessary in the particular treatment being employed to maintain the yarn in the stretched condition after the hydraulic impact,

The couor between successive hydraulic blows. In such cases the construction of the apparatus may be simplified. for example, the flanges i6 and I9 may not necessarily have conical surfaces, and the auxiliary hydraulic means for moving the main hydraulic cylinder downwardly may not be necessary. In certain cases the mean: for maintaining the package in the stretched condition after it is removed may not be necessary. The essential feature of the method of this invention is that the strand material be subjected while in the packaged state to high impact hydraulic pressure outwardly in a radial direction to increase the diameter of the package and thus stretch the strand material.

The package which it is desired to tension may be wound in various ways. depending on the degree of stretching desired, and on the uniformity of stretching desired in the inside of the package compared with the outside of the package, and on whether or not it is desired to maintain the package under tension, and on other factors.

A package of the preferred shape is shown on a winding spool having end flanges of the desired cone shape in Fig. 5. The conical faces of the flanges 50 make an angle of about 29 with the axis of the spool H, which is steeper than the corresponding 57 angle of the surfaces 4i and 42 of the flanges on the tensioning machine. This results in a package of uniform density through-'- out when the package is expanded radially and compressed axially as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. If it is desired to tension the yarn only moderately, say about 3 or 4% stretch, a uniform degree of stretching in'the inner and outer areas of the package may be obtained simply by winding the package at somewhat lower tension on the inner windings than on the outer windings. If it is desired to tension the yarn to a greater extent, say about 10% stretch, it is preferable to use a varying traverse wind with a long traverse near the core and a shorter traverse at the outer portion of the package. This results in uniform tensioning in the hydraulic impact vmachine. Before winding the package, it is convenient to place strings or tapes 5i as shown in Fig, 5 along the core and winding flanges. After the package is wound, the ends of these tapes can be tied together to maintain the shape of the package when it is being transferred from the winding mechanism to the impact machine. The flanges 50 are detachable so that the perforated spool i1 and the package l8 can be readily removed from the winding machine. The perforated spool I! may be omitted, if desired, and the wound package placed directly in the machine without any spool.

In place of the auxiliary hydraulic cylinder 30 and piston 32 any other suitable known means may be employed for forcing the conical flanges against the spool, e. g., suitable springs may be employed.

It will be apparent that the hydraulic impact tensioning method is applicable to a variety of known textile treatments wherein yarns and the like are stretched in the presence of a liquid. The liquid employed may be simply water, or may consist of various chemical treating agents such as wetting agents, resin composition, dewaxing compositions, solvents and the like. Various liquid treatments may be combined as desired.

It should be noted that the impact feature of the present hydraulic tensioning method is an essential and highly advantageous feature of the invention. It will be evident that tremendous forces are needed to expand a wound package of yarn. With this method, a single impact may deliver a blow of 50,000 lbs. per sq. in. or more to the yarn package in equipment of relatively simple construction. Hydraulic impact supplies the required force in a simplified, controllable manner with excellent mechanical efliciency.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is; 1. The method of tensioning strand material which, comprises subjecting a wound package of the material to hydraulic impacts acting outwardly and uniformly in all radial directions to increase the diameter of the package and thereby stretch the material.

2. The method of tensioning strand material which comprises subjecting a package of the material wound with inwardly slanting conical end surfaces to hydraulic impacts in 'a radial direction outwardly to increase the diameter of the package and thereby stretch the material, and urging conical flanges against the ends of package to maintain the package in the stretched condition.

3. The method of tensioning textile strand material which comprises subjecting a package of the textile material wound with inwardly slanting conical end surfaces to hydraulic impacts of a liquid treating medium in a radial direction outwardly whereby the sudden outward force of the liquid treating medium causes the diameter of the package to increase and thereby stretch the textile material in the presence of the liquid treating medium, and urging conical flanges against the ends of the package to maintain the textile material in the stretched condition.

4. Apparatus for tensioning strand material that is wound in a package, comprising means for supplying a volume of liquid to the central portion of the package, means for closing the ends of the package to confine such liquid, and.

means for delivering a repeated impact force against the confined liquid to exert a strong hydraulic pressure upon the liquid to thereby expand the package outwardly and stretch the strand material of the package.

5. Apparatus for tensioning strand material that is wound in a package, comprising means for supplying a volume of liquid to the central portion of the package, the said package having inwardly projecting conical ends, a pair of flanges having conical surfaces and engaging the ends of the package to confine the liquid, means for delivering a repeated impart force against the confined liquid to exert a strong impact hydraulic pressure upon the liquid to thereby expand the package outwardly and stretch the strand material of the package, and means to urge the said conical flanges against the package in an axial direction to maintain the package in the stretched condition.

6. Apparatus for tensioning strand material that is wound in a package, comprising means for supplying a volume of liquid to the central portion of the package, the said package having inwardly projecting conical ends, a pair of flanges having conical surfaces and engaging the ends of the package to confine the liquid, means for delivering a repeated impact force against the confined liquid to exert a strong impact hydraulic pressure upon the liquid to thereby expand the package outwardly and stretch the strand material of the package, means to urge the said conical flanges against the package in an axial direction to maintain the package in the stretched condition," and means to maintain the flanges tightly against the ends of the package when the flanges and package are disengaged from the aforesaid means for urging the flanges against the package.

7. Apparatus for tensioning strand material that is wound in a package, comprising means for supplyin a volume of liquid to the central portion of the package, the said package having inwardly projecting conical ends, a pair of flanges having conical surfaces which make a greater angle with the axis of the spool than the aforesaid conical ends of'the package, said flanges engaging the ends of the package to conflne the liquid, means for delivering a repeated impact force against the confined liquid to exert a stron impact hydraulic pressure upon the liquid to thereby expand the package outwardly and stretch the strand material of the package, and means to urge the said conical flanges against the package in an axial direction to maintain the package in the stretched condition.

8. A device for tensioning filamentary textile material comprising a piston adapted to move within a cylinder, a chamber within the cylinder into which said piston projects, a perforated spool intercommunicating with said chamber on which a package of the filamentary textile material to be tensioned is wound with inwardly projecting conical end faces, a flange one side of which engages the aforesaid cylinder and chamber, the opposite side of the flange having a conical face making a less steep angle with the axis of the spool than the aforesaid conical faces of the package, the said flange also engaging the spool and package. a similar conical faced flange engaging the other end of the package and spool, means to introduce a treating liquid to the chamber and to the interior of the spool, means to deliver a blow to the piston whereby the liquid is suddenly displaced outwardly through the perforated spool to expand the package, and means to force the two flanges together against the package as the package is expanded by the outwardly moving liquid.

THOMAS J. RHODES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

